Flooring materials to be installed in an aesthetic setting (e.g., a residential or commercial setting) are generally selected based at least in part on their appearance. For example, consumers and builders often utilize various types of flooring, including tile, carpet, hardwood flooring, laminate flooring, engineered wood flooring, and other types of flooring in order to enhance the aesthetics of the area in which they are installed. However, particularly in the case of hardwood flooring and alternatives thereto (including laminate flooring and engineered wood flooring), the selection of potential flooring materials is limited by the hardness of the materials utilized to manufacture the flooring materials. Because flooring materials are often subject to significant localized pressures during normal use (e.g., resulting from objects dropped onto the flooring material, persons walking in high-heeled shoes on the flooring material, and/or the like), the flooring materials must have a hardness rating sufficient to resist denting of the aesthetic surface of the flooring material caused by high localized pressures during normal use.
In light of the significant localized pressures experienced by flooring materials, the raw materials utilized in the flooring materials are tested to meet a minimum hardness prior to being used to construct the flooring materials. One well known test for solid wood is the Janka Hardness testing method as defined by American Society for Testing and Materials (“ASTM”) in ASTM D 143. In addition, wood flooring materials are again tested in their final board form according to a modified Janka testing method (as explained in more detail below) to ensure that the aesthetic and durable surface of the completed flooring material has an adequate hardness to withstand the high localized pressures of normal use.
The hardness required to withstand the significant localized pressures experienced by flooring materials during normal use generally limits the use of certain species of wood having low hardness ratings. As an example, substantially all gymnosperm species (commonly referred to as “softwoods”), and certain angiosperm species (commonly referred to as “hardwoods”) are considered to be unusable for flooring materials given their low hardness ratings. However, at least some of these species of wood can have an aesthetic appearance that is considered exotic, or is otherwise desirable, over traditionally used species of wood.
Accordingly, a need exists for flooring boards providing the desirable aesthetic appearance of gymnosperm and angiosperm wood species having low hardness ratings while at the same time meeting the hardness requirements to resist damage to the flooring boards during normal use in order to improve the selection of available flooring material options.